Lifetime Incarceration
by Irohtethis4u
Summary: Follows Ty Lee and her conflict with Azula. The former leaves with Haru to start a new life, only to be chased indefinitely by the latter. Rated T for some mild language, may go up to M eventually. Ty Laru story, with some Tyzula and My Lee mingled in there ;)


**Hey everyone! This is my first ATLA fic and I'd love for you to read and review.**  
 **I've always loved Ty Lee as a character in ATLA and wondered about her possible affiliation with the Equalists in LOK. I decided to experiment by writing about her and Haru.**

 **As always, I don't own anything related to Avatar: The Last Airbender, or Legend of Korra. All original characters belong to Michael DiMartino, Brian Konietzko.**

 **Without further ado, please read and review this story! I'm always looking for pointers and I know my writing can get a bit word** **y** **at times, so all feedback is welcome!**

 _Chapter One_

"You have to understand," Ty Lee heaved, gasping for air. Tears stung the corners of her eyes like a bloodsucking leech. "I'll never forgive you!"

Azula's voice was clear and unwavering. "No, you do not understand." The former Fire Nation Princess clenched her fists, broadening the fire that surrounded them. "For the last time: I'm not giving you much of a choice. Either you join me," she whispered, although in Ty Lee's mind it felt like a predator's cry before it struck prey, "or you burn."

The self-proclaimed 'circus freak' clutched her chest. Her heart pounded. Was this it? Even after the Hundred Year War, and the defeat of the Fire Lord, was Azula just too powerful to stop? Letting Azula out of prison to find Ursa was the biggest mistake Zuko ever made, Ty Lee thought to herself. Why couldn't Zuko have caught her after she stole a bunch of children, disguised as the Kemurikage? Her perception of reality began to fade, as though her mind and spirit had let go of her grip on life, and existence itself.

Azula had found her here, on the outskirts of Ba Sing Se. Ty Lee had just resigned from her duties as a Kyoshi Warrior, temporarily, to explore the world with her lover. Unarmed and unprepared, Ty Lee had run out of options against Azula. In hand-to-hand close combat, Ty Lee could easily defeat Azula with her chi blocking and experience in the martial arts. But from afar, Azula had a distinct advantage. There was no Mai, this time, to throw darts at Azula and to supplement Ty Lee's acrobatic mastery. With no long distance attacks, there was no chance.

"So, what will it be?" Azula's gold eyes flickered with the blue lights from her flames. Ty Lee tried desperately to see the old Azula, the slightly less psychotic younger sister of Zuko who acted upon her desired affection from her mother. Where was that girl that she used to play games with as a child?

Azula only looked like her father.

"Join me, and save the world from this Republic that your little friend Zuzu won't shut up about," Azula said, through gritted teeth, "or face your DOOM!?"

The fluttering blue embers started to engulf them, Azula standing in control and Ty Lee on her arms and knees, powerless. Even before Azula's strike, any breath could have been Ty Lee's last. "I'll never join you," Ty Lee said. She felt her spirit gradually melting away. Their combined plots against the Avatar and company flashed before her eyes. Chasing the Sokka and Katara through the forest, breaking down the Wall of Ba Sing Se, brutally assaulting the same Kyoshi Warriors that she now considered sistren. She couldn't come to terms to the damage that she had brought to the world beside Azula. "Never...never again!"

Azula's expression curled into a malignant sneer. "Wrong choice," she said, savoring every syllable, every consonant and vowel of the words between her lips.

The former princess raised her hand in a motion that Ty Lee recognized instantly. Ty Lee shuddered with her remaining energy. "No…" she whispered.

The same firebending that Ty Lee helped Azula perfect. By using all of her limbs and appendages at once, Azula employed all of the chi passageways in her body. In an all to familiar pose, Azula's left hand reached for the sky, lightning surrounding the entire left half of her body. The cyan fire increased and surrounded her right half. Azula's strongest powers, combined. The ring of fire around Ty Lee zeroed in on her and singed parts of her skin.

Ty Lee's scream filled the air. She had never felt anything that hot in her life. And yet, seeing as she could still breathe, she knew that Azula had shown some mercy for her childhood friend.

Azula sneered and let out a menacing chuckle. "Want to change your mind, Ty Lee? You look even worse than Zuzu did! Hahahaha!"

The trained acrobat ran her hands over her arms, grazing the burn marks where her once best friend scorched her. The ten foot distance between them didn't stop Ty Lee from feeling the electrical pulse and its disturbance of the air around her. She braced herself for the worst. Even in her delirious state, Ty Lee felt Azula's aura intensify into a blood-red. She won't show any mercy this time, Ty Lee thought to herself, It's really over. This is it.

Avenge my death, Avatar. Bring Azula down.

Ty Lee collapsed onto the earth before the flames reached her limp, lifeless body.

"Hold it right there!" a familiar voice boomed from the distance. A gust of wind knocked the former Crown Princess off-balance and the lightning redirected into the sky. The flames and electricity surrounding her subsided instantly.

Azula turned toward the voice, her gold eyes splintered with blue flames. Her composure drained out of her once she thought she had a witness. "Who dares defy me! I'll show you for interfering with our little playdate!" Forming fireballs in her fist, she flung them into the darkness.

With her loss of sanity, she had also lost her aim.

"Isn't it obvious, Azula?" a raspy voice calmly crowed. The speaker didn't emerge from the darkness to Azula. "You and your evil antics are done for."

"Show yourself!" the daughter of Ozai screamed. "What a coward! Hiding in the shadows so I can't even get a good look at you!" She fired more blue fireballs into the distance, but even she knew it was to no avail.

At that moment, tranquilizer darts shot through the air, piercing Azula in five different places. She fell to the ground, squirming and struggling with purpose even in her vulnerable state.  
Her vision blurred around the edges and her breathing steadied into a heavy, even cadence. "You'll never catch me, Zuzu…" she murmured, before her vision blurred completely and she succumbed to the beckoning sleep.

The shooter strode up to Azula. "It's a shame," the dart-throwing mastermind said. "You've lost so much of your mind, you can't even remember that I'm the one who throws darts, not Zuko."

Mai heaved the body up and held it on her back. It was time to imprison the monster, for good.

"Aang," Mai called. "We need to get Ty Lee to Katara. Quickly."

"I'm on it," he responded, pulling out his bison whistle and sounding it into the darkness.

Appa surged through the sky, landing close to Aang. Even the sky bison knew the severity of the situation and roared with contempt and pain for Ty Lee.

"Is she okay?" the other hero, Haru, asked. His forehead crinkled with anxiety over Ty Lee's fate. "Will she make it?"

Aang gingerly touched Ty Lee's partially scorched body, carefully avoiding the points of fiery impact. He closed his eyes and felt for her pulse. Thump...Th-Thump...Thump… She was alive, but barely. "We have to hurry," he said, hoisting the fallen acrobat onto Appa's saddle. "Get Azula up here. Now."

"She could stand to lose a few pounds," Mai grunted, following suit by heaving Azula onto Appa's back, then climbing on herself. Haru followed her.

"Appa, yip yip!" Aang called into the dark of the night, and the sky bison took for the skies. Faster, Appa, Aang thought. We don't have much time.

Haru sat in silence, staring at Ty Lee.

"I can't believe they wanted us to keep Azula alive. It's almost like Zuko wants her to escape again." Mai quickly retorted.

The earthbender's eyes met with Mai's. His green irises failed to hide his insurmountable feelings of pain and hurt that overcame his soul. The fate of his hopes and dreams all lied in Ty Lee's physical state.

"Don't you think it's weird?" Mai continued, counting her leftover darts. Only ten left, she realized, cursing silently. I wasted five of my darts on Azula. She brought her attention to the dark and brooding skyline. "Zuko knows how dangerous she is. Why hasn't he ordered her execution already? Are you listening, Haru?"

Haru started to move toward Ty Lee and sighed. "Sure, it's weird that Zuko doesn't want her dead. It's just...I need to put her in the cell."

Mai rolled her eyes and nudged Azula's body toward Haru. "Sure is convenient you learned metalbending. Now we can at least leave Azula back in that prison for good."

"Convenient. That's the word," Haru whispered. He grabbed Azula's hands and bound them together with chains. He forcefully threw Azula's body into the cell and forced it shut until his knuckles turned white.

Haru's time at the metalbending academy proved, well, convenient in times like these. Having recently passed up most of Toph's lily livers, he found himself at the top of the class. Putting together fireproof cells to hold rebels like Azula was no issue for him.

Haru, the second best metalbender of all time.

Now that didn't quite have the same ring that Toph's title did.

But that didn't matter to Haru. After the Hundred Year War and most of its residual conflicts came to a close, all Haru wanted was to live life without thinking of the horrors the war brought to him and his family. And to Haru, Ty Lee seemed the perfect person to share that life with. He had told her today, of all days, about his plan, and she had willingly agreed to travel the world with him. He and Ty Lee, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. They would view the world as no one ever could have imagined during the war.

But in her unconscious state, all Haru could think about was her next breath.

Haru stared at Ty Lee's unresponsive body. "Mai, will she...die?"

"Azula?" Mai questioned. "No, I hit her with a tranquilizer. She'll be awake in twelve hours."  
"I wasn't talking about Azula. I was talking about Ty Lee. You know, the one that we all came here for."  
"Oh, well you should really be more specific with your pronouns. People listening to you won't be able to understand which Fire Nation prissy-pants you're talking about."  
"If I thought that Azula was dead, why would I have put her in a cell?"  
"Who knows, smartass, maybe your little metal box is supposed to be a coffin."

"Calm down, you guys!" Aang shouted. "Ty Lee's in trouble. If she's not dead now, she could die any minute. Can't you guys just get along for a minute before we get her to Katara?"

Mai and Haru met eyes, indignantly.

"Fine," Mai said, rolling her eyes.

Haru nodded, then scooted next to Ty Lee. He took her hand in his. Even in her unconscious state, she looked beautiful to him- her hair astray from its usual braid, her lips barely parted. This was the woman that he knew he could love for the rest of his life. However long hers may be.

Haru softly grazed the skin on Ty Lee's upper arm. He touched her gingerly, as if she would break in half if he held her with any more force. The burns were intense, but there was no sign of a lightning strike.

Still holding Ty Lee's arm, Haru glared at his cell for Azula. Why did you attack? What does Ty Lee have that you so desperately want from her? He thought to himself.

He also thought of killing her, right then and there. And if he weren't bringing Ty Lee to Katara, the greatest healer and waterbender in the world, he may have.

Instead, he whispered, "I will never, ever let this happen again," into the sky.

 **Oooh, Haru the edgelord, am I right?**

 **Please read and review! All feedback is welcome :)**

 **~ Jennet**


End file.
